C-389 Final Vote This Week

NDP MP Bill Siksay’s Private Member’s Bill C-389 to enshrine transgender rights in the Criminal Code is coming up for a final vote this week. The legislation would add “gender identity and gender expression” as prohibited grounds of discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act and hate crimes laws.

The final hour of debate is taking place now in Ottawa, with the vote during third reading scheduled Wednesday evening, February 9. MP Olivia Chow swapped Siksay’s bill with one of hers on the order paper to bring about this earlier vote.

With opposition from some Catholic, “family”, and right-wing women’s groups, who make the ridiculous claim that this bill will increase assaults against women by letting MTF transsexuals use women’s washrooms, it’s important to keep up the pressure on MPs to pass this bill.

You might also like ...

The census needs to represent a broader spectrum of physical/biological sex than a male/female binary, but this is not the only space where sex, gender, and sexuality are defined by the Canadian state through the census.

Copyright Disclaimer

Unauthorized use of this material without express permission is prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to post authors and Gender Focus with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.